Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Decorating Cookies with Kids...Works for Me Wednesday

Blame it on the commercials, you know they ones...mom, grandma, and kidlets all in matching aprons, standing in a sparkling clean kitchen decorating cookies together. They're smiling, hugging, and having an all-around wonderful, memory-making time. Not to mention, the cookies look perfect.

Let's be honest here...decorating cookies with kids CAN be fun...but it can also be a hair-pulling, cry-inducing, mommy-needs-wine-please mess. I've found that I have to remove this sentence from my vocabulary, "Here, let me help you with that."

Here are some tips to {stress-free} cookie decorating with kids:

1. Have everything ready BEFORE bringing the kids into the kitchen. That means, the cookies are baked, icing is made and tinted, all supplies are out and available. (If you really think your kids will like the color the icing themselves, tint most of it, then save a bowl or two for them to color.)

2. Hand Sanitizer. Obviously, if you are doing this at home, you can have your kids wash their hands. If you are with a large group (these pictures were taken at a community center), break out the hand sanitizer.

3. The icing. Royal icing can be made in advance and refrigerated for a few days. Before the decorating begins, bring to room temperature and thin with a bit of water. You'll want it looser than a piped icing, but not so thin (like a flood icing) that it runs off the cookies. Thin it enough so it can be easily squeezed out of a bottle.

4. Sprinkles and sanding sugar. Kids love 'em. I think they're a must. You might not want frosting-covered hands grabbing for the sprinkle containers, so small bowls and ramekins with spoons work great.

{PS...if you put out 7 kinds of sprinkles and sugars, kids will want to use ALL 7 on their cookies.}

5. Decorate ON something with an edge. Here we used paper plates, but if you're decorating at home, a rimmed cookie sheet works perfectly. Remember those sprinkles? You'll want to catch them on that rimmed sheet before you're slipping & sliding all over your floor.

6. Let them eat COOKIES! Even if you're saving your cookies for Santa or the neighbors, make sure each child has a cookie to eat. (Otherwise, Santa is going to have a big ol' bite out of one of his cookies.)

7. ENJOY the moment!!! Kids are so fun to decorate with because they're not scared. They dive right in and have the *best* ideas. I'm in love with this striped tree:

55 comments:

It's awesome that you held this decorating event for the kids. It is such fun to watch them create their own designs on the cookies and you are right...if you put out all the sprinkles etc., they will most often try to use them all on one cookie. Great tips for decorating with kids Bridget.I love how the kids beam with pride at their finished results.

Tip: find sprinkles on sale or clearance because one kid can drain an entire container on one cookie. Maybe reserve your favorite embellishments for yourself. I hosted a cookie decorating party for my daughter's birthday and it requires a ton of patience and plenty of warm soapy water and washcloths!

It is a tradition that all (9 now)my grandkids come to my home and decorate Christmas cookies. My oldest is 19 years old (and yes the boyfriend came two years in a row and decorated)and youngest is 2 years old. Great memories, loads of pictures. Even their parents decorate at least one cookie each year.I DO have all the cookies already baked!! I have done this since the 19 year old was 2 years old.LOL Merry Christmas

Love this post! I'm decorating gingerbread men with my 3 year old daughter this week. I laughed at the picture of the sprinkles dumped on the tree - that's exactly what she does. And funnily enough, when she helped decorate our actual Christmas tree, she put all her ornaments on the same branch :)

I love this! I give each kid their own paper plate with piles of sprinkles, it helps them to not spill passing them around, and I find half of the kids end up eating them, so they don't put fingers in other people sprinkles. LOL. I also have to sit back and try not to help, let them do their thing, if you can, it's hard.

Thank you so much for this great post! It couldn't have come at a better time - I am in charge of the "Cookie Decorating" station in my son's kindergarten class tomorrow and your tips and advice will work PERFECTLY!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :)

We "paint" cookies. I buy kids paint brushes and make the icing a little thinner. My daughter LOVES it! Of course, sprinkles are an absolute essential and my daughter does put every single type I break out all on one cookie! But that's okay because she loves it...and I love it!

My biggest tip to decorating parents is do not expect perfection. We had a friend over to decorate with us this year and her grandmother was all worried because her Christmas trees weren't green and she wasn't painting Santa's face on the Santa head cookies - I told her not to worry. If I wanted the cookies to look perfect, I would have decorated them myself. I want them to look like a kid decorated them...so much more whimsical!

Thank you! I'm getting ready to decorate cookies with my son and nieces, this is exactly what I wanted to see! The older girls want to learn how to decorate cookies "my way", lol! My 3 year old son, however, will get the "kid" decorating station.

It took me soooo long to learn to stand back and let kids do it 'their way'. Now that my girls are in their late teens and early twenties, I think I've finally mastered it ;)Great post---that striped tree is awesome.

LOVE that you're giving back to the community! The kids and I are going to make those gingerbread heads that Bakerella had on her blog last month. I don't think they'll be nearly as pretty but it will be fun!

Using Royal Icing in bottles is brilliant! My one question is how do you get it inside those tiny bottle openings?

I really want to know! I'm doing this with 16 preschoolers tomorrow and had planned on going with buttercream in a piping bag made of ziploc. I have a hard enough time getting the icing in those much larger openings!

Tips for cookie decorating with kids? Yes! Whenever we make gingerbread houses or cookies (with tons of candy and icing around) give them their own stick/pack of gum first.... they love it and it cuts down on some of that sugar consumtion

This is one of our favourite things to do at home (so much that my neice asked to be invited over next time we do sugar cookies). I agree that you need to let kids do their own thing - that's why I have 5 snowflake cookies at home right now with a single EYE in each centre, LOL! Oh, and to the poster who asked about getting the icing in the bottles - funnels from the dollar store, I think I have about 20! And Bridget, if I hadn't taken your advice about the bottles oh so long ago, I don't think my daughters and I would have survived making cookies together...thank you!

Really smart tips Bridget! I had a couple little girls over to play cookies with me and it was fun, but yes, it was a LOT of work and a lot of clean-up and much harder than I expected. These tips will really come in handy when I get up the nerve to try it again ;-)

My best advice is to scrap the perfectionist inside of you! It took a long time for me to let my kids' cookies be...Well, kid's cookies! I find that when they dry, even if they look rough when being frosted, they are absolutely beautiful. I take out an entire tub of toothpicks and my girls make gorgeous cookies by swirling and dragging the icing colors together. I had to learn to RELAX.

I host a cookie decorating party every year... I hadn't thought of putting the icing in bottles!!! I think my life is changed forever!! Pinning in hopes that I will remember that for next year. Oh, and my party was a week ago and I am still finding sprinkles on the floor :o)

I know I'm late to the game with my question, but how do you handle drying time when you are doing a group event like this? Does everyone get a plate to take home and they dry there? I prefer decorating with RI (both by myself and with my kids), but I'm not sure of the best way to send home wet (or slightly wet) cookies.

I know I'm late to the game with my question, but how do you handle drying time when you are doing a group event like this? Does everyone get a plate to take home and they dry there? I prefer decorating with RI (both by myself and with my kids), but I'm not sure of the best way to send home wet (or slightly wet) cookies.

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This year, finally, I made the gingerbread dough. Going to cut & bake the cookies tonight.Hopefully tomorrow my li'l one, niece & nephew will help me ice them.Thanks for the great tips & recipes.I'm so excited to see how the kids do. I know they're going to have a blast!

This is looking delicious. My friend made cookies in shape of starfish and decorated them with some handmade nice eatable décor items. She hosted her party at one of iconic venues in Chicago and everything looked stunning. That was a very special party favor.

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Welcome to Bake at 350! I'm Bridget and I like all things sweet...especially cookie decorating. I hope you'll find some inspiration here. So, grab a chair (and a cookie) and let's get baking! [read more here >>]